The Fight for Civility

Submitted By: Abie Rubin

The nation is still coming to terms with the horrific shootout, yet the media jumped full force ahead on a ridiculous smear campaign against conservatives in general and Sarah Palin in particular. Firstly, I want to express my pain for all the loved ones of those murdered or injured in the attack and a blessing for a brighter future.

Immediately after news of the terrible tragedy spread, the nation was plunged into a deep state of mourning. That is, the entire nation excluding a group of heartless individuals who jumped at the opportunity to politicize the news without even minimal knowledge of what has occurred. While the wailing ambulances raced to transport the victims, with Gabrielle Gifford’s condition still critical, and the public walking around dazed, this selfish group pounced upon their computers and laptops to report the news while pointing fingers at their political opponents. Their perverted reasoning in a nutshell is as follows:

The hateful rhetoric coming from the right is downright dangerous and breeding violence and therefore must be put to an immediate halt.

In the very same breath that the Paul Krugmans of society call for a calmer tone and increased civility to one another, they have the audacity to ignite hatred against talk show hosts, tea parties, and Sarah Palin by blaming them for the murderer’s insanity. I don’t remember the Republicans heatedly blaming or naming Obama or anyone else on the left as the cause of killing since it would’ve been an unbelievably absurd act. Nevertheless the media pointed fingers at the conservatives and called on them for growing a “climate of hate”. It seems that they believe that blasting your opponents as the root of peoples’ deaths results in a more peaceful society.

The media has no compunctions whatsoever to knowingly fabricate facts (or ignore them) so they can spin a story in tune to their ideological beliefs. This only comes about because of the following known factor in human nature which talk show host Dennis Prager points out repeatedly. Lying is the worst human weakness because A-it breaks all barriers preventing one from evil actions since the liar rationalizes that he can always fib his way out and B- one can destroy people’s marriages, businesses, character, and so on by creating and spreading slanderous lies against them. The media is so steeped in its distortions of truth, that assuming allegations before having the facts even though it might be false is not an issue for them since even when the facts prove them wrong they nonetheless remain truthful to their baseless lies. Once some facts about the shooter’s background came to light, the media did not deem it important to analyze and discuss what an influence for example reading violence promoting books such as Communist Manifesto, and Mein Kampf written by Adolph Hitler, the mass murderer of fifty million people (!) may have had on an already deranged person because it didn’t fit their mold. Perhaps we can attempt to understand the media’s brushing this information under the rug by another great insight of Prager made when the left compared Bush to Hitler, and the tea partiers and Arizonans to Nazis. He explains that one who uses such extreme terms can only do so because of one of two reasons. 1- He is ignorant of the horrific atrocities they engaged in, or 2- they consider someone with whom they disagree to be on the same level as one who participated in or directed the ruthless murder of millions.

It has to be pointed out that this is not the first time media members accuse those on the right in murder. For example, just recently George W. Bush was blamed for the death of a million people in Iraq even though the death count was according to the highest estimates not more than 150,000. What these accusers forgot is that the innocent civilians were killed by suicide bomber and roadside bombs placed by Muslim extremists and not by Bush aides. For those of you yelling that these acts of terror occurred only because of the war Bush started so the blame should lie squarely on his shoulders, why don’t I hear you yell the same about Clinton for not coming in defense of the 180,000 Kurds which Saddam gassed during his presidency? No one from the right came out and called Clinton a murderer and rightfully so since Saddam Hussein was guilty for his own actions and not Bill Clinton. Similarly, Bush is not and should not be blamed for terrorists’ actions.

All this reminds me of a well known story of a person who wanted to change the good for first the world, then his country, his state, his city, etc. albeit without success until he realized that in order to have an effect on anyone he first had to start with himself. This week many members of the media like have undertaken a campaign to correct the choice of words used by others while keeping a different standard for themselves. The Marcos Moulitsas’ and the Paul Krugmans’ have shown their true colors as one of the worst society has produced and are attempting to drag the rest of us with them. But no, we will not give you the pleasure in stooping as low as you have, now or ever. In that sense, I can proudly announce, Mission Failed.